Way Too Normal
by heatherb
Summary: Cara Cuttra is a normal girl who lives on the Destiny Islands. All she want's to do is leave and do something new and along the way she meets two vampires, a werewolf, a fairy, and a princess.She also manages to fall in love along the way too! Not an AU!


Way Too Normal  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, I wish I did, but I don't. I do, however own all the characters you don't recognize! And, I don't own the song 'Extraordinary' by Liz Phair. It's a great song and you should check it out and give it a listen sometime.  
  
Hi everyone! This is my first story in a long time and I have tried my best to make it better than my last one! This is NOT AN AU! Everything that happens in KH still happens in this fic! This is about a normal girl from the Destiny Islands and HER adventure. This is full of original characters, but there are some cameo appearances from some characters you'll recognize. This may star off a little boring (Hopefully not) but as it moves along it will get better, I promise! Sorry about the length, though. I wanted to fit some much in for the first chapter and I still didn't get everything I wanted in it, so that's all gonna go into chapter 2!  
  
NOTE: Before I start I want to say that I'm stretching out the KH timeline. I'm a not sure how long Sora's adventure lasted, probably somewhere around six months or longer. But I'm going to span it over a couple years or two at some point during the story, so it probably won't have much to do with KH2. Sorry if this confuses you, I'll try and make it clearer when I get to that part.  
  
Any comments or reviews would be very appreciated, good or bad! So without any further ado, here it is!  
  
Chapter 1: Let's get it started!  
  
When someone looks at the Destiny Islands from afar, they see only a beautiful tropical paradise where the sun shines constantly and the waters sparkle a glittery diamond blue. When I look at it, I see a floating prison whose only wish is to keep me within it forever.  
  
That's how it seems to be now. I can remember a time perfectly when I vowed to myself that I'd never leave the Destiny Islands. Of course, if you were six at the time, you wouldn't want to leave it either; it had way to many cool places to explore and play in. But Now that I've explored those places at least a thousand times each, they start to get really boring. The days when I would have been perfectly content playing in the sand or just sitting around enjoying the pleasant breeze seem so far away. The memory itself seems like an old time silent movie, slightly damaged from its old age, which gets a little fuzzy at some parts, and then it blacks out and randomly skips to something else.  
  
So, why don't I just leave? Stop complaining to you about it and talking your ears off about my childhood memories? God only knows how much I would love to, but the problem is...  
  
Well, I'm not completely sure what it is exactly. It's a number of things, the main reason being that I'm only fifteen. Some of the others are that if I ran away, I'd miss my family too much. Not to mention, I'd probably be to scared to run away by myself, and I don't really have any friends. I mean, I have friends, but I'm not that close to them. It's not that I 'm a mean person; at least I don't think I am, and it's not that I'm unsociable, it's just that I don't really fit in around here. I never did.  
  
There's nothing wrong with any of the others here, so I'm positive it's only me. As far as appearances go, I'm completely normal. And I have tried my hardest to try and make new friends, but it never works. They'll talk with me a bit and then when a better opportunity arises they'll make up some lame excuse to go so that I won't try and come along too. I haven't got a clue as to why they treat me this way, and they aren't mean to me, or anything, but it's just that they ignore me all the time. But, if they want to be that way, there's nothing I can do about it. I'm sick and tired of it! I want so badly to go someplace where I would be seen or at least to be noticed here for once!  
  
But most of all, I want to be noticed by him. I know that in reality that he would never even give me the time of the day, let alone view me as a possible candidate for his affections. That spot has been forever reserved for Kairi. I mean he'd even pick his pack of raging hormones, A.K.A his official fan club, over me. In fact, I'm not even sure he knows that I even exist. But, I'm so pathetic; that I still keep wishing that one day he'll see me and fall in love with me. But back to the 'Kairi' thing, She's the only girl who Riku's interested in. Sadly for him, he hasn't found out that she fell in love with their other best friend, Sora. All the other kids have known for a long time that Kairi and Sora had a thing for each other, and watched as Riku tried to win Kairi's heart in vain. His fan club was ready to wage open war with the clueless Kairi, who thought and still probably thinks, that Riku only sees her as a close friend and can probably only see him as a close friend or an older brother.  
  
Anyway, since I now that I spend most of my time writing, either in this journal or any of my other numerous notebooks, I made up a little song about my boy troubles. It's called ' Extraordinary'.  
  
You think that I go home at night  
  
Take off my clothes turn out the light  
But I burn letters that I write  
To you, to make love me  
  
Yeah, I drive naked through park  
Run a stop sign in the dark  
Stand in the street, yell out my heart  
To make, to make you love  
  
I am extraordinary, if you'd ever get to know me I am extraordinary; I am just your ordinary, average, everyday sane psycho  
Super goddess  
  
You may believe in me  
But I believe in you  
So I still take the trash out  
Does that make me to normal for you?  
  
So dig a little deeper, cause  
You still don't get it yet  
See me lickin' my lips, need a primitive fix  
And I'll make, make you love me  
  
I am extraordinary, if you'd ever get to know me I am extraordinary; I am just your ordinary, average, everyday sane psycho  
Super goddess  
  
See me jump through the hoops for you  
You stand there watching me performing  
What exactly do you do?  
Have you ever thought it's you that's boring?  
Who the hell are you?  
  
I am extraordinary, if you ever get to know me I am extraordinary; I am just your ordinary, average, everyday sane psycho  
Super goddess  
  
So, what do you think? I know it's not exactly truthful, but still it's very deep. But, hey, there's always room for improvement! I write a lot of songs like that, but this one is the best so far. I'm going to try and make up the music to go along with it, but I'm not sure how that will work out cause I suck at writing music and I can't even play an instrument!  
  
Oh well, I guess I'll just have to learn and-Oh Shit! Someone's coming! I gotta go!  
  
Cara practically pounced on top of her journal as the figure that was slowly, yet steadily drawing nearer and nearer came within eyesight of her. Quickly and silently she positioned herself to a spot behind the trunk of the bent paupu tree where she could see and not be seen.  
  
However, as soon as she caught sight of the 'disturber of her peace', she suddenly sucked in her breath. It was Riku, the very object of her affections and the star of nearly all of her daydreams! He obviously hadn't seen her, for he walked right by and straight to the edge of the mini- island.  
  
Though he stood there, standing as straight and proud, as if he were a solider in roll call, his head was bent low causing his silvery locks to cascade down into his beautiful face.  
  
Cara watched curiously, even though her heart felt like it was body- slamming against her ribcage and it was getting increasingly harder to breathe. Her first thought was to run away, not wanting him to see her without her makeup.  
  
"Damn, I knew I should have put it on anyway!" Her head screamed at her. Since it was so early in the morning, she didn't really see any reason to pretty herself up; no one would be out there to see her because she thought no one else was stupid enough to get up extra early on a Saturday to sit and think on the beach.  
  
Oh, how wrong she was.  
  
And out of all the people who could've been there, it had to be Riku. Cara felt like laughing bitterly at the irony, but decided against it. (Don't want Riku to think I'm a nut, now do I?)  
  
So on Cara watched, and her conclusion as to why he was out here was that he was obviously distressed because now his shoulders started to slump and she could've sworn she heard a sigh.  
  
"Maybe he finally found out about Sora and Kairi." She mused while staring at him. Suddenly she got an idea, an evilly wonderful idea. If Riku was down, he may need someone to talk to or to listen to his problems and he probably wouldn't talk to Kairi or Sora about it if she guessed right. And that person Cara decided would be her. She grinned happily as she gathered every ounce of her courage together because she really was going to need it. No more being invisible and looked down upon, this was her chance to be noticed by her crush!  
  
"It's now or never." She told herself as she took a deep breath and prepared to stand up and walk out of her hiding spot and over to where the silver- haired-hottie stood, but suddenly before she could get there, something sped by, scaring the living shit out of her. Poor Cara, who was too preoccupied with calculating her little plan, didn't notice how close to the edge she was and fell head first into the crystalline water.  
  
As soon as Cara's head emerged from the water and after she hacked up her now waterlogged lungs, she immediately heard the unmistakable voice of Sora. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists so tightly that her hands started to shake as the anger that was spreading like a wild fire coursed through her entire body and she fought to keep from screaming:  
  
"SORA YOU LITTLE FUCKING BASTARD! YOU SCREWED UP EVERYTHING!" But somehow she managed to keep quite and sloshed out of the water and onto the beach, irritated about being wet and even more pissed off and disappointed about not being able to talk to Riku like she had wanted to.  
  
"Why dose everyone up there hate me?" she asked no one in particular as she glared up towards the sky, trying to let each and every god up there know how much she disliked them right now and then she started on home to change.  
  
At the same moment, trillions of miles away in another world, yet another story started to unfold.  
  
There is a special place, that to any other would appear to be a small and quite sleepy town packing all there goods up, for the fiery orange sun was in the process of setting. But a closer look would surely show the onlooker how wrong they were; for this is no ordinary town.  
  
The very aura of the town, felt from miles away, suggests that there is something very negative and morbid about it. And there sure is, for as soon as the sun goes down do the inhabitants venture out of their pointy oblonged gothic Victorian style homes to taste the night. Everything there seemed to be either different shades of gray, black, or orange. The streets were made entirely of cobblestone were uneven and uncared for they had sprouted little weeds in the many various cracks. Nearly everywhere you looked you would find a jack-o-lantern with a face meant to scare or a dark shadow looming over you.  
  
In the very center there was a fountain that showed an ugly and mutated type of water creature, spiting out from its rather large mouth, what appeared to be green water. The fountain was also responsible for the clouds of mist and fog that floated around the town. Throughout the whole square there were only about ten lampposts, most of which flickered on and off constantly. The light they provided didn't help to keep away much of the darkness and would most likely unnerve any normal person who was unfortunate enough to be there. And if that didn't freak you out, then the eerie silence most defiantly would.  
  
To Sirus Velateara, this was home sweet home.  
  
This place is called Halloween Town and is home to nearly every terrifying thing alive. All the monsters that are made up or seen by little children in the dead of night reside here, within their own little world of horrors. The town got its name because Halloween is the only holiday they celebrate and because, quit frankly, they are what Halloween was based around. All year long, everyone is busy making preparations for the next All Hallows Eve.  
  
But year after year, it was the same old thing and for Sirus, it wasn't as it should be. In fact, it seemed to be at the point where he was beginning to hate Halloween. He wanted desperately to leave this place and to do something else, anything else it didn't matter what it was as long as he wasn't there. However, even if he did leave, there would be serious limitations as to where he could go. After all, he was a vampire; he couldn't very well runaway with his coffin strapped to his back, now could he?  
  
And as a vampire, he always had a strong sense of pride towards his heritage, but as of late he was starting to wish he wasn't damned.  
  
But at this very moment, he awoke from his slumber with a deep hunger that clawed at him with such intensity that he felt if he ignored it, it would kill him.  
  
"But" He thought wryly "I'm already dead" He then slumped up an inch and prepared to lift the lid of his coffin to free himself of the faded red silk that lined the inside and out into the night which beckoned. Having done that he sat up and climbed out of it and walked over to the lone wooden door.  
  
The room in which his coffin was kept was really the basement of an old house that belonged to one of the many dead clowns. It was completely dark gray stone, and the only things in the room were his coffin and the table it was laid on top of. There was no source of light in the dreary room, for he needed none, and his internal alarm hadn't yet failed to wake him until the sun was nowhere to be found.  
  
As he made his way to the door, with a grace that only the immortal could possess, he paused to listen.  
  
"Hope those retarded clowns aren't around." He mumbled to himself. The clowns that lived in Halloween town were among the most mercilessly savage things on the entire planet. They got their 'jollies' by ruthlessly torturing their victims, all of which are usually beautiful young girls, in ways possibly worse than death.  
  
Of course, he wouldn't really care that much about it if it were all people in general that they were doing it to. They were rapidly wiping out his favorite meal: a pretty young girl who usually was the image of innocence, whose blood processed a sweeter taste then that of any other besides a child.  
  
But as he went on wondering, a scream all to familiar reached his sensitive ears.  
  
"Vanna." He whispered to himself as he ran up the old slightly decayed steps of the basement with inhuman speed. He opened the door to the basement so forcefully that he ripped it from its hinges, but he couldn't care less as he tossed it aside. Right now his good mood and hunger were forgotten. His rage multiplied until he was thoroughly PISSED, and for everyone else and especially the person his rage was intended for, that was bad. Really bad.  
  
The clowns were at it again, another torture session, but this time the victim mattered because it was his little sister.  
  
Vannavirya, who wasn't bound or hurt, still continued to scream at the top of her lungs. She then started to jump around the poorly maintained room, squeezing her eyes shut and clenching her hands to her head tightly. All at once Sirus understood the situation.  
  
The clowns shrunk back from Sirus as he swiftly walked past them to his only living relative, for they knew full well what he could do to them if he wished. Vanna was still carrying on with her 'spasm' when he reached her and when he forcefully grasped her shoulders. She thrashed about and flailed her arms around.  
  
"DIE CLOWNS! GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME YOU GODDAMN BUTTHOLES!" She shrieked right into Sirus's face. He had just about had enough and prepared to do the only thing he could do right now to shut her up.  
  
WHAP!!!!!!  
  
Of course, Sirus held back from seriously hurting her, but the slap that Vanna received was given so fast that she fell over onto the hard dusty old floor. When she finally opened her eyes and looked up at who she was sure was going to put her through immense pain, she saw only her dear older brother glaring down at her.  
  
"You hit me, you bastard." She said instantly forgetting the clowns were there as she moved her right hand over to the spot on her cheek that was now an angry red where she had taken the blow.  
  
"You dimwit, why do you always do brainless things like this?" He asked as he tried with all his might to suppress his anger. His sister was terrified of clowns, even though she too was vampire that possessed the power to send them to hell and back again. Whenever she saw a clown or it even looked at her she always would do something stupid, like run away from them or stay and run around and scream. The clowns here, however sick and satanic they were, would never even dare to touch his sister, but that didn't stop them from trying to scare the crap out of her, and even then he didn't trust them.  
  
"I'm sorry, you know I can't help it! There're just so frickin' freaky! I came here to wake you up so we could go hunting together, but I saw them and they had a whole bunch of chains and crap out and the way they were looking at me-"  
  
Sirus shook his head, he had heard enough. He went over and helped his sister up and shot the evil killer clowns one last glare before leading his sister to the door and exiting.  
  
Glad to be out of the mad house, he fully appreciated the feel of the cool breeze on his permanently icy flesh. He looked up towards the heavens and was pleased to note that the sky was clear and filled with beautiful twinkling stars and that the moon was full. He had always preferred to hunt by the light of the full moon overhead; it made him feel protected and almost invincible.  
  
"You're an idiot." He said softly as he put a protective arm around his younger sister's shoulder. There were times when Vanna annoyed him to the point of attempted suicide and astounded him with her stupidity. His only conclusion to that was that she was a retard, but he knew that deep down under all her dumbness there was an intelligent woman that she chose to hide away, and how he wished she wouldn't. He strongly believed that her behavior was inappropriate for a vampiress. But nonetheless, he loved her more than life itself even if there was nothing he could do to change how she acted. Whenever he would mention that particular topic to her she would lash out at him with her main reason being that she 'wanted to be herself'. It always resulted in a massive war between the two.  
  
"I know." Was all she said back in a distantly cheery tone. She wasn't ashamed at all to act like a poorly mannered child anytime and anywhere, that's just simply how she was. They were now walking down the street called 'Lost Souls Lane' and were heading towards the 'Guillotine Square' were there was a path that would lead them to one of the small neighboring villages not more than a few miles from there. One important thing to note is that Halloween town is invisible to mortals unless a resident brings them there.  
  
It didn't take the pair very long to reach their destination, and upon entering the shabby little town that looked to be deserted, they split up. They each preferred to hunt alone, and agreed to be back at the town's entrance an hour before sunrise. That would give them plenty of time to satisfy their cravings, but they had to do so sparingly, they were after all sharing this town and all the other small ones with everyone else back at Halloween town who needed human blood or flesh to survive. It wouldn't be at all to surprising to run into a member of their community here, since this was one of the 'finer' shity human towns.  
  
The afternoon sky over the Destiny Islands was now a large swirly mass of orange, yellow, red, and the tiniest little hint of pink. It was absolutely breath taking, but Cara couldn't give a flying fuck. She plopped down on her bed and through a pillow over her face to block out the brightly shining sun. As you may have already guessed, she was still very upset over her mishap earlier. In fact, it had put her in a bad mood all day.  
  
When she had gotten home and after she had taken a shower just for the hell of it, she decided not to go back out. So instead she changed back into her pajamas and sulked and lounged around the house, and since there was no one there to tell her to do otherwise she took advantage of the situation. She ate ice cream (Rocky Road!) on the couch, which she wasn't supposed to, watched a pretty raunchy R-rated movie, (Very Violent and tons of bad things!) and then blasted her music and danced around the house like a retard. It did take her mind off of things a little bit, but she still was restless.  
  
Every part of her was itching to leave, go somewhere new and just start over. Who cares if her family misses her or thinks she died or something? Who cares about Riku, who's never going to ever notice her anyway? She wanted to leave and she wanted to do it NOW! And that's when she really started to consider the ups and downs of running away and she still hadn't come up with a decision yet.  
  
She swatted the pillow off her face and tilted her head up so that she could see her digital alarm clock. The blinking green numbers told her it was exactly 5: 31, time for her verdict. She knew full well that this was a serious matter that should take her a lot of thought because she didn't plan on coming back so soon or if she was lucky, at all.  
  
But then again, what would she do out there? Where would she go? The only answers she could come up with were that she would go to the next town over first and then from there officially start her 'journey'. She decided that she would walk along the path in the woods. It was a beautiful path that she had taken walks on a lot, so navigating it would be no difficulty at all, but what she would do for shelter? Maybe she could swipe her dad's old camping tent from the garage, but that stupid thing weighs a metric ton so she wasn't sure that would be the best choice, but it was the only one she had for now.  
  
Though about the fear she had, she wasn't sure how she could get over that. She had seen way too many scary movies where girls are killed by some psychopath in the woods, and she couldn't shake the feeling that if she went, knowing her luck, it would happen to her. That or something equally bad, but if she left that stupid little 'what if' scare her into not going, she knew she'd regret it. So after serious consideration, she decided 'what the hell, why not?' and began to pack only what she needed and her most precious items. Having done that, she was ready to set off... after a quick note to her parents.  
  
As Cara made her way down the path with her flashlight guiding her every step, she wondered why she'd hadn't this before and why she was so scared. It was so peaceful and serene and knowing she was walking towards her freedom made it even better. Cara had always loved the woods; she felt so clam and at ease in them and aside from the bugs and stumbling every once in a while, everything was great. Until her flashlight ran out of batteries. Cara wanted to kick herself so badly and run around in circles screaming 'WHY? ! It was so like her to forget to do important smart things like say, check the batteries! She stopped and a pit formed in her stomach. The woods had suddenly lost their enchanting magical appearance and took on the 'twisted horror movie' look. She looked back to see how far she had gotten, which was far, and she really didn't want to turn back but she knew that she wouldn't get much farther if she couldn't see.  
  
So even more disappointed than she was before she turned and headed back into the direction of home. Not even ten minutes later did she see a flash of lightning. The clouds were so huge and black she had no clue how she missed them.  
  
"Great, can it get any frickin' worse?" She asked herself, and surely enough she was answered by a loud thunderclap. She let out an exasperated sigh and knew that she had no one to blame for this sidetrack but herself and started to walk back. That's when she chose to really take a good look at the sky, and what she saw nearly made her shit her pants!  
  
Right in front of her very eyes, a swirling ball of black, blue, and pinkish red roared to life with little zaps of electricity buzzing through it every two seconds. She didn't even have time to scream before a little black creature that seemed to have materialized out of nowhere with big blank glowing yellow eyes was standing not even five feet away. Soon more of the little bastards started to pop up and launch at Cara.  
  
The first time one jumped was when she made up her mind that these little butt munches were bad and that she didn't like them at all. She did the only thing she could for the moment: Run like hell! She bolted blindly down the dusty little path, trying her best to dodge branched and bushes or any other obstacle for the matter. She didn't know she how long she ran for but she knew very well that her chances of out running the little creeps were slim to none, for as soon as she had taken off they dissolved into shadow and slithered after her.  
  
Her legs ached and her lungs felt like they were going to explode at any given moment. She briefly wondered what would happen if she gave in to them. What the hell were they? Would they hurt or kill her? Most likely if she was running away, right? But right now these were questions she didn't want to dwell on. All she wanted to do was keep on running away from them. Unfortunately, her body wasn't that kind. Cara often played sports and participated in activities that had lot of exercise in them to try and stay fit, and it worked, but she was just so tired from running so fast and she didn't think she could keep it up any longer.  
  
Cara couldn't stop when she saw she made it to the edge of the woods and to where there was a little bit of light or when she saw a growing pool of darkness waiting to swallow her up whole. She wasn't sure if she let out the scream that she had been holding in for so long, but she knew that this was probably the end.  
  
Though Sirus's stomach disagreed with his decision to skip hunting for tonight to go and have a little chat with Dr. Finkelstin, there was little it could do except protest by making long low growling noises that made Vanna laugh hysterically every time she heard one.  
  
He knew that letting her come with him was a bad idea.  
  
But he also knew that she would come anyway even if her told her to go home, so he really had no choice in the matter. He looked over to his left where Vanna hummed a happy little tune that he was pretty sure he heard one of her victims humming before she reveled her true nature the poor soul. He watched as her long glossy black hair swayed in the lose ponytail she had tied into, and there was a happy bounce to her step. It all irked him somehow. Vampires don't hum and skip all happy-like! Their not supposed to smile constantly like nothing was wrong! They don't deserve to be happy. He suddenly stopped his even strides at that last thought, as a sinking feeling washed over him. That's when he truly realized that he did believe that the damned shouldn't have a right to be happy for they were the stealers of lives, so that they could sustain their own.  
  
"Dose this mean I feel guilty?" He whispered to himself, a very big mistake.  
  
"Guilty 'bout what, Sirus?" questioned Vanna, snapping out of her happy daze.  
  
"Nothing." Said Sirus shaking his head causing his waist length raven locks to fly. He couldn't ever tell his sister he was starting to feel bad about killing. Even thinking it damaged his strong pride enough, telling it to Vanna, a sinister cold-blooded killing machine would prove to be fatal to his 'act like a real vampire' lectures to her. What was wrong with him, though? He never really cared before about taking human lives. They were so fragile and insignificant that it really didn't matter and it certainly wasn't a big loss.  
  
'Okay, I must be a little weird tonight because I'm breaking my pattern of hunting exactly after I wake up.' He thought to himself. Maybe if he kept on telling that to himself, he'd eventually believe it.  
  
Not before long did they arrive in front of the mad scientist's humble abode: a slightly crooked dark stoned tower with one circular window at the very top.  
  
"Why are we at the wacko scientist dude's house?" Vanna asked curiously cocking a perfect brow.  
  
"Listen closely for once and maybe you'll find out." Was all Sirus said to her as he opened the heavy metal door with ease. He walked through and Vanna followed looking around, sucking up the sight as if she were a sponge sucking up water. He forgot this was the first time Vanna had ever been here. He had been here a few times before, but only for a couple minutes for numerous little errands he was forced to run sometimes for the mayor.  
  
The reason he was there was very important, and he knew that if there was anyone in Halloween town that could help him it would have to be Dr. Finkelstin. Sirus had heard all about how he helped the town optimist or A.K.A The Pumpkin King, Jack Skelington bring this thing called 'Christmas' to them, so he really didn't think it would be that difficult for him to think of a way to get to another world or something along the lines of that.  
  
Sirus was knocked from his thoughts when he felt Vanna elbow him in the rib. He had no time to protest to her for a low raspy voice called out:  
  
"WHO'S THERE?"  
  
"The vampire, Sirus Velateara." He called back feeling a little sheepish as he heard Vanna try to stifle her snort. She always made fun of him when he introduced himself properly. There was no response for a few seconds and then he could hear the Dr.'s wheelchair wheeling itself out to the top of the stairwell that had a ramp so that he could manage to get around okay by himself.  
  
Dr. Finkelstin peered down at the two through his small black sunglasses that suited his beady little eyes quite well. His somewhat beaklike mouth twisted up into one hideous smile that consisted of only four teeth.  
  
"What can I do for you Mr.Velateara?" Asked the pale bald crippled 'thing' politely, his abnormally small hands folded neatly in his lap. That was their queue to ascend the ramp up to Dr. Finkelstin's laboratory. It only took about a half hour for Sirus to get all his ideas and thoughts on leaving out, which mildly surprised him. Vanna, however definitely surprised agreed with his proposition fully, which made him feel much better about the whole thing.  
  
Dr. Finkelstin was more than happy to help in anyway he could, simply because he loved a good challenge. So they spent another two hours making all the plans, but realizing the time they decide to finish it tomorrow.  
  
"Sirus." Dr. Finkelstin called to him before he could leave; Vanna kept on walking.  
  
"Yes?" He asked.  
  
"I've been working on something for quite some time now, and I think it's time it's truly put to the test. I think that I have succeeded in creating a potion that will allow vampires to be exposed to sunlight. But don't get your hopes up two high; because I'm not totally sure it will work, I just wanted to tell you."  
  
Sirus wasn't sure what to think. All his life he'd always wondered what it would feel like to feel the sunlight on his face and see how truly different the world looked when it was lighted, because he and Vanna were true vampires born and raised. It was like someone offering a blind man the power of sight, so of course he was speechless.  
  
"That's the reaction I thought I'd get." Chuckled the mad doctor.  
  
"Well, what can I say? If what you say turns out to be true and your potion enables me to go out in the sun..." Sirus shook his head to clear away all his jumbled thoughts.  
  
"But wait" Asked Sirus "How do you know it works?" The Doctor smiled.  
  
"I somehow managed to come across a vampire once in my travels and told him of my research. He was happy to provide assistance to whatever I needed. So I took a few pieces of his skin to use as samples. Vampire flesh will burn in the sun, as you know, of course, but I went and toyed with the DNA and took out what I will call it's 'unholy-ness' and replaced that with normal human genes. When I put it out in the sun, it didn't shrivel up and burn. In fact it was totally fine, but the skin is very delicate and it wounds easily and gets sunburns quite often. I am still working on it, still trying to see how much sunlight it can endure and for how long. My conclusions seem to tell me that all is going well, but what I'm working on is just a tiny sample of skin. I can't be certain how different the effects will be on, say, you."  
  
Even Sirus didn't quite follow all of that, but he caught the jest of it. It didn't really diminish the tiny spark of hope that had ignited within him; all it did was blow weakly at it. He couldn't believe it! If this worked...the possibleitites would be endless.  
  
"I'd say a couple more weeks of testing and then if all goes well we can try to find something close to a vampire to try it on."  
  
Sirus nodded and left, with thoughts of going into the sunlight dancing through his mind.  
  
' I am I dead?' Cara groaned to herself as she struggled to sit up. Her head felt like someone bashed it in with a sludge hammer, and her body felt sore and beaten.  
  
"I wouldn't move if I were you. You don't want to get a dizzy spell now, do you?" Asked a strong yet kind female voice.  
  
' I don't recognize that voice...maybe I'm in another town.'  
  
"OH MY GOD THOSE SCARY BLACK THINGS! WHAT HAPPENED? WHERE I AM I? WHA- Cara screamed as she bolted upright, which was a very bad idea indeed. At once she felt dizzy and nauseated. She wasn't sure if she even got the vomit she suddenly choked up in a garbage can, but she didn't care. She was scared and confused, and not being able to see correctly made the whole thing even worse.  
  
"I told it would be a bad idea to move in your condition." Said the voice, ebbing with motherly patience. Cara closed her eyes realizing that her vision was blurry because she probably had a fever and her eyes were probably sensitive to light. She laid back down on the bed she was on, wishing she had taken the women's advice. All she heard was the women bustling around the room.  
  
"Now what were you shouting about? And just how exactly did you end up like that?" Those were good questions, and Cara didn't have exact answers to either of them.  
  
"I...don't know how I... got this way, but I remember that when I was in the woods these little black creatures with glowing eyes were chasing me. And then I ran into this puddle of darkness and that's all I remember."  
  
The lady was silent for a minute and then she walked over to the bed.  
  
"Here, put this over your forehead." She said as she handed Cara a cloth that was soaked in what Cara hoped was warm water. She accepted it, however and did what she was told.  
  
"By the way, my name is Frankie Greensburg and you're in Traverse Town, more specifically in my apartment." She said cheerily.  
  
"My name is Cara Cuttra, and I came from the Destiny Islands. I never heard of Traverse Town before, is this a new town?" Cara said as politely as her headache would let her.  
  
"Oh, and thank you very much for taking care of me! I really appreciate it!" She added in quickly, embarrassed that she forget it in the first place.  
  
"You're welcome, Cara. After all I couldn't just leave you in an alleyway for god knows who to come along and find you. You're welcome to stay here as long as you need to recover and all. We'll worry about how you ended up here later. And anyway, to answer your question Traverse Town is a very old town that has been here for a while. It isn't very populated or very big, but lately we've been getting strangers like you who come out from nowhere. But don't worry about any of that, for now rest up because later on, it won't be so quite."  
  
"Huh, why? What's going to happen?" Asked Cara worriedly. Frankie smiled and laughed softly.  
  
"I run a dance club down in the warehouse part under here." She said as she pointed downwards (though Cara couldn't see that). "It goes all night and it's super loud. There aren't that many residents in this district so we don't get any complaints about it."  
  
"Oh." Was all Cara said.  
  
"I'm gonna go and let you sleep. I'll be back in a little bit to check on you. Later we'll talk some more and get everything straightened out, okay?" Frankie asked sweetly.  
  
"kay." Responded Cara trying to stifle a yawn. With a soft click she heard the door shut and then she slipped into La-La Land.  
  
"Hey" Someone said as they shook Cara's shoulder.  
  
"Hey, come on sleepy head it's time to wake up." Said a gentle feminine voice that reminded her of her mother.  
  
"Five more minutes, Mommy." Cara mumbled pulling the blanket up over her head and tucking in the corners and holding them tightly.  
  
"Come on Cara, you have to get up now." Said the voice.  
  
"Uh-uh" Came the muffled reply. Cara didn't want to wake up yet. She wanted to stay in the dream world, where she and Riku were happily married and had five children and were living happily on the Destiny Islands. Then suddenly the events of what she presumed were yesterday came poring back into her mind at top speed.  
  
In one slow motion, an arm snaked out from under the covers to pull the rest off her face. Cara blinked a couple times to adjust to the bright lights of the room. Slowly her vision came back into focus and for the first time her eyes fell upon her caretaker.  
  
Frankie was an attractive women in her mid 20's with caring blue eyes and wavy reddish blonde hair that loosely fell around her slightly rounded face and down to her shoulders. She was warring a black low-cut tank top with matching black pants that showed off a perfect figure. Cara's eyes then lingered around the room to various objects.  
  
The room was the size of a normal bedroom and the walls were a light pink with a floral border at the top. There was a rosewood vanity, and Cara could tell it was rosewood because her parents were big fans of it and it was half of all the furniture they had, with a matching dresser, night- table, and of course the very bed Cara was laying in.  
  
"So finally you decided to join the living world, huh Cara?" Frankie teased playfully.  
  
"So how do you feel?"  
  
"I feel much better." Said Cara as she smiled a little. Her head still throbbed a little and the rest of her was still a little sore but all in all it was better than she felt before.  
  
"Well that's good. Now I think that we should get you something to eat and something warm to drink, so why don't you come with me out into the kitchen? Or do you think that that would be a bad idea? Do you think you can walk?" asked Frankie.  
  
"Yeah, I think I should be able to." Said Cara as she lifted herself up from the comfy bed and slowly followed Frankie out the door to her kitchen. They walked down a short hallway that had a couple pictures on the walls and out into a big spacious hunter green living room that was connected to an eat-in kitchen. Cara had to hand it to Frankie; She had a really good decorating sense.  
  
"Here" Frankie directed her to her gray leather couch. "Why don't you sit here and vedge for a little. I'll make us some something to eat and some hot coco, okay?" Cara smiled and nodded her head, happy to sit on the comfy sofa. She looked around to see that there was an oak wood hutch against the wall that matched the coffee table maybe a couple feet away from the couch that housed the T.V. On top of it there were various picture frames and trinkets set up nicely.  
  
She looked around some more until she spotted a wooden clock that said it was 8: 45. The four windows in the room, two of which being bay windows, covered in a lacey curtain showed her that since it was dark outside that it was P.M.  
  
Cara was buzzing with questions, but she kept silent. She felt that any minute now she would explode and start babbling without end. It felt like forever until Frankie announced that the food was done and that she should come and sit in the kitchen.  
  
She walked into the kitchen and sat down at the seat at the table where Frankie put her food. At once a heavenly aroma that made her suddenly remember that she couldn't remember the last time she ate assaulted her nose. Frankie sat down across from her and smiled.  
  
"Oh wow this smells so good." Said Cara absently as she hunted around the bowl of soup for her spoon.  
  
"Thanks, my mother taught me how to make this. She always made it for me when I was little and didn't feel good." She smiled remembering to herself. Soon they were laughing like old friends who hadn't seen each other in a while. They discussed the possibilities of how Cara might have ended up there, but they also learned a lot about each other and were beginning to be good friends. That for Cara was really good news, because she really liked Frankie. She was very kind and really fun to talk to, plus they found that they had a lot in common.  
  
"Anyway, if you think you're up to it, would you like to come down and check out the dance club?" Asked Frankie with a friendly grin.  
  
"Sure, why not?" Said Cara as she finished the last drop of her hot coco.  
  
"Well, you know it may not be the best thing for you right now, since you're still recovering. The music is really loud and isn't the best thing when you have a headache." Said a concerned Frankie, as she went to collect the dishes to deposit them to the sink.  
  
"True, but you've got me interested. I'll manage, and my head feels a lot better now that I got some food in me. See, when I get headaches, food clears them up almost instantly." Cara explained smiling.  
  
"Alright, if you're sure." Frankie smiled. "But you can't go looking like that."  
  
"Huh?" Cara blinked and looked down at herself. She was still clad in the tank top and shorts she had been in when she ran away and they were smudged with dirt and torn in some places, plus they were defiantly not 'club clothes'.  
  
"Oh yeah, I forgot about them." Said Cara sheepishly.  
  
"Don't worry, I have the perfect outfit for you! So let's get you cleaned up!" Said Frankie as she grabbed Cara's arm and pulled her back into the bedroom at the end of the hall.  
  
Nearly an hour later, Cara couldn't believe her eyes as she looked in the full-length mirror. She looked so pretty!  
  
"Oh my god! You did such a good job! Wow!" Exclaimed Cara as she gazed at her reflection.  
  
Frankie had somehow manage to get her normally frizzy brown hair to behave and say up in two high ponytails on the top of her head at either side, held up with two pink ribbons. The outfit she lent her did seem in fact 'prefect' for her. The top was a black satin-like material that was designed to look like a corset with pink ribbons cross-crossing on the front down the middle. A frilly black mini skirt complemented the top wonderfully, and to top it all off, a pair of black leather 'hooker' boots, as Cara called them that, that reached to the top of her knees.  
  
Frankie dusted Cara's eyelids with a glittery pinkish eye shadow and let her use some sparkly pink lip-gloss. She looked at Cara proudly, as if she had just finished her masterpiece and was now inspecting it to make sure it was absolutely perfect. Satisfied with the result she quickly went to apply a little make-up to herself before they left to go downstairs.  
  
Frankie's dance club, Cara found out was called ' Eternal' and it was huge! To the left side she saw that there was a pretty big bar with what looked like a hundred different colored bottles in the back round, then a giant dance floor that took up nearly half the place, and on the right there were some tables and chairs and a couple of VIP rooms. Overhead lights in every color of the rainbow blinked and swept across the room. Towards the front by the dance floor there was killer DJ equipment and two enormous speakers that looked like people could dance on them, if they wanted or where drunk enough.  
  
"Come on." Said Frankie as she guided Cara through a crowd of waiters and waitresses. "This place doesn't get many people until around eleven or so, so we have about ten minutes to waste." She only paused to glance at her watch and then she continued her hurried pace. Frankie brought her around to meet some of the people who worked there, who were friendly enough.  
  
The whole time Cara couldn't stop thinking 'this is exactly what I wanted! To be noticed and star over!' She watched with amazement as people ready to party entered the club, clad in different, yet strangely fashionable clothes, and it was filling up fast. The DJ was also getting ready and started to blast some kind of fast paced dance song that had the whole place pulsate along with it.  
  
Cara felt like she had stepped into a totally different world as she followed Frankie around like her shadow as she met with different people. She was hypnotized by the rhythms of the music and the movements of the crowds who had started to dance and looked like they were in pure rapture; she almost didn't hear when Frankie started to tell her something.  
  
"So how do you like it?" She said again as she lead Cara to an empty VIP room that had sound proofed walls.  
  
"I love it!" Said Cara excitedly. She felt so alive in this place and so free, because it felt like no matter what you did, no one would judge you. She longed to get out on the floor and dance with everyone, to feel the music take control of her every move and to free her soul, if only for a few moments.  
  
"Well, I've been thinking since you have no place else to go, maybe I could set you up with a job here. You can stay with me until you've saved up enough money to get your own apartment. What do you say?" Asked Frankie with a friendly smile.  
  
"OH MY GOD, REALLY?" Cara exploded with delighted surprise. Before Frankie even knew what hit her, Cara locked her arms around her shoulders for a quick friendly embrace.  
  
"YES! That would be so great! Thank you so much!" Cara said as she tried to keep herself from jumping around the room. This was going to be the beginning of her new life.  
  



End file.
